Pipe holder



March 16, 1937. LQ-HLBURY I 2,073,859

I PIPE HOLDER Filed Dec. 10, 1954 Patented Mar. 16 1937 amass!) PATENT OFFICE PIPE HOLDER Lyle C. Tilbury, Houston, Tex., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to A. W. Crosby, Harris I County, Tex.

Application December 10, 1934, Serial No. 756,864

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a pipe holder.

An object of the invention is to provide a pipe holder for supporting a string of pipe suspended in a well bore.

5 It is common practice to support pipe in a well bore suspended from the rotary table of the rotary drilling machine by the use of pipe engaging slips, which in turn are seated in a downwardly converging seat in the rotary table or in an adapter which, in turn, is seated in the table. As at present constructed, these slips do not have sufficient gripping area to support long strings of pipe or drill stem such as are now used in deep well drilling. It is the prime object of this invention to provide pipe holding means which embodies slips of a greater length than those commonly used with novel means for supporting the slips in the rotary table.

With the above and other objects in view,

the invention has particular relation to certain novel features of construction, operation, and arrangement of parts, an example of which is given in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a vertical sectional view of the holder showing the pipe therein, and

Figure 2 shows a plan view, partly in section.

In the .drawing the numeral I designates the table of a rotary drilling machine which is mounted on the bed plate 2, as shown. table is extended through a central opening in the bed plate and is mounted to revolve on the rollers 3. The rotary table is driven by the beveled pinion l fixed on the drive shaft 5.

The rotary table has a downwardly converging rectangular countersunk portion I provided to receive a drive bushing which is used for driving the drill stem 8 during ordinary drilling operations.

In making up the drill stem when going into the well, or when breaking up the drill stem while removing the same from the well, the pipe holding means, presently to be described, is used, and comprises the adapter 9 and the slips Ill.

The adapter is preferably formed of two segments arcuate in cross-sectional contour and whose lower ends are tapered downwardly to conform to the shape of and to fit into the seat 6. At their upper ends these segments are widened as at H, and rest upon the bottom of the countersunk portion 1 of the rotary table. The upper end of the adapter is approximately flush with the upper surface of the table, and the adapter has a downwardly converging seat [2 ex- The tending from the upper to the lower ends thereof.

A plurality of slips H! are provided, two being shown. These slips are provided with the handles 13, by means of which they may be handled. The inner surfaces of the slips are toothed to form gripping surfaces to engage the pipe 8 and their outer surfaces are tapered downwardly so as to conform to the shape of, and to fit within, the adapter seat I2, and said slips may be ex- 1 tended upwardly above and downwardly beneath the adapter to provide maximum gripping surface to engage the pipe to be held.

It will be noted that the seat l2 has a vertical length considerably in excess of that on the seat 15 6. At the present time only the downwardly converging seat 6 is available to receive the slips and if long slips are used in such seat 6, their upper ends would be unsupported laterally, and said unsupported ends would consequently yield outwardly and not provide efiective gripping surfaces for the pipe. In order to give such lateral support to the upper ends of said longer type of slips, the rotary table would have to be reconstructed and made higher, which is undesirable, as it would add to weight unnecessarily and make the work around it more difficult. With the present type of adapter, as shown in the drawing, the upper ends of the slips are provided with lateral support, and consequently a longer type of slip can be effectively used, with the present type of rotary by utilizing the walls of the countersunk portion 1 as a lateral support.

As shown, each section of the adapter is provided with two outwardly extended lugs M, M. In assembling the adapter in the rotary table, said adapter is lowered with the lugs l4 located in corresponding angles or corners of the countersunk portion 1 until the outwardly enlarged upper end ll of the adapter rests on the bottom of said countersunk portion, and the adapter is then turned to cause said lugs to enter the corresponding slots IS in the rotary table, and the adapter is thereby held against upward movement relative to the rotary table when the pipe 8 is moved upwardly.

The drawing and description disclose what is now considered to be a preferred form of the invention by way of illustration only, while the broad principle of the invention will be defined by the appended claim.

What I claim is:

The combination with a rotary table having a downwardly converging seat whose upper end 55 10 having an inside downwardly converging seat approximately from its upper to its lower end, the vertical thickness of the enlarged portion of the adapter being greater than the transverse thickness of the adapter beneath the thickened portion, pipe engaging slips in the adapter seat and extended above and beneath the seat, but being supported laterally by the adapter substantially throughout the length of the slips.

LYLE C. 'I'ILBURY. 

